Some’s Hot, Some’s Not! 06/01/11

Shame on the Fort Bend Republican Chairman, Rick Miller, and every other elected official in Sugar Land or Fort Bend…..A scurrilous attack via e-mail and mailed flyer has been put out attacking Farha Ahmed who is in a run off for a seat on the Sugar Land City Council. The e-mail and flyer cleverly insinuates that Ahmed is a Muslim extremist who represents a convicted terrorist who is already serving time in prison.

Let me make this clear. I have not been necessarily supporting Farha Ahmed because I’m still mad at her for being on the board of First Colony Community Services when they had board of director elections which could not by any stretch of the imagination be called “transparent.”

But that aside, I’ve known her for many years and became familiar with her mostly through her work with the Fort Bend Republican Party.

So the idea being promoted that she is a terrorist is not only laughable, it is unconscionable. What is so apparently shameful about it is that to this day at press time, no elected official in Fort Bend or Sugar Land, with the outstanding exception of County Clerk Dianne Wilson, has stepped forward to defend Ahmed publicly. And most of these officials know Farha and have known her for years. Of course, I’m not surprised that Dianne Wilson has taken this step. Wilson can always be counted on to do the right thing.

Even today, I received a comment on our web site about her and at least this one had the courage to sign his name.

Let me take some of the criticism of Ahmed point by point. First, she does not represent the supposed lady Al Qaeda, Aaifa Siddiqui. Much is made of the fact that Siddiqui fired her attorneys and hired Ahmed. This is patently untrue. As a point of fact, Ahmed is not a criminal attorney, but she is one of three attorneys in Texas with the same name.

She has financed much of her own campaign with her own money and she used a lot of that to buy television ads. I resent the fact she didn’t spend any money in the “Star”, but that was her choice.

Sugar Land is a diverse city and has prided itself on its diversity. A large Muslin mosque exists peacefully on one of the busiest streets in the city. So she is a Muslin. I’m a Methodist, you are a Baptist, and the person down the street is a Catholic. The city of Sugar Land election is nondenominational and nonpartisan. You don’t have to belong to a certain church or a certain religion or even a certain race to run and serve on the Sugar Land City Council. Interestingly enough, her campaign manager, an old friend, is Jewish and a member of the local synagogue.

The “hate” mailer that residents of Sugar Land received in the mail had TWO 44¢ stamps and contained the return address “Political Advertising paid for by a concerned citizen of Sugar Land District 4. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.” However, the 88¢ postage tells me that whoever mailed it certainly didn’t want it to come back. And I find it interesting that the other candidate in this race hasn’t called a press conference and publicly denounced this tactic.

It is amazing to me that a press release or even a Facebook entry has not been posted denouncing the people behind the hate campaign against Farha Ahmed by not only her political opponent, but her political party, or any other member of the Sugar Land City Council. What’s wrong with you people?

Sugar Land is not the city I thought it was. This should not stand.

This just in….According to my sources, District Attorney John Healey is working on a press release condemning the e-mail and flyer against Ahmed as is Stephen Brown, head of the Fort Bend Democratic Party. Dianne Wilson, John Healey, Stephen Brown, party of three.